Omnichannel

Three retailers have been named "geniuses," and it may not be who you expected (well, at least one of the companies). L2, a business benchmarking service, awarded Nordstrom, Macy's and Sears "genius status," the highest honor of a five-tiered ranking system in its recent Digital IQ Index: Department Stores. Macy's and Nordstrom have been ranked highly in the past, however, I have to admit, I was surprised to see ailing retailer Sears join them at the top of the list. Over the last few months, we've heard reports of Sears closing multiple storefronts as well as management issues. Just this past week it was reported that the company probably won't last past the 2016 fiscal year. So how did Sears earn the title of "genius"?

Alison LePard, a 19-year-old college sophomore from Wellesley, Mass., says that when she shops for clothes and accessories, her goal is a look that's uniquely hers. So she does a lot of mixing and matching. "I don't blindly follow what they put out," LePard said of store displays. "I don't want to wear just one brand. I don't want to be a stereotype." She's hardly alone. Recent surveys have found that members of the U.S. millennial generation — the roughly 80 million Americans born between 1977 and 2000 — pride themselves on their individuality, and shop accordingly.

Amazon.com is the most talked about — and feared — company in retail today. You can argue that its success is simply because of low prices, but the truth is consumers also shop Amazon more frequently because of the company's consumer-centric approach.

Christmas is still more than three months away, but the game is already on in the toy aisle with both Wal-Mart and Toys"R"Us publishing some of their holiday toy lists Wednesday. Winning the game for Toys"R"Us isn't just about picking the hit product, it's also about proving there's viable room for it to exist and win as a specialty toy retailer, as other specialty chains from Best Buy to Barnes & Noble also guard their respective foothold against rivals from Wal-Mart to Amazon.com. 

If developments like Apple's iBeacon or the rise of online marketplaces are any indication, the retail industry is in the midst of a significant digital evolution. These leaps in technical innovation present major opportunities for retailers willing to embrace change and equally significant threats to those that stubbornly hold on to status quo.

Talbots is upgrading its core merchandising and inventory management systems to streamline processes, reclassify products and centrally manage inventory across channels. The retailer of women's classic apparel and accessories has selected Mi9 BI, Mi9 Merchant and Sales Audit with Loss Prevention software products to replace its existing core merchandising and inventory management systems. Talbots chose Mi9 Retail for its advanced business intelligence capabilities that are built into the merchandising platform with a single data repository and easy-to-use interface, as well as its robust integration capabilities with third-party systems, including their order management systems.

Saks Fifth Avenue, the nearly 90-year-old department store that's in the thick of a rebranding effort, is looking to content to help polish its image and, in the long run, boost sales. This fall, the company's men's and women's catalogs will adopt the look and feel of a fashion magazine with features meant to highlight trends and demystify new styles and cover lines promising "186 Revelations from the Fall Runway" and "Tales from the Dark Side."

Solutions to the challenges brands face maintaining an effective digital content strategy in today’s omnichannel retail environment.

Same-store sales growth of 6 percent and e-commerce strength helped J.C. Penney dramatically reduce its second quarter operating loss and demonstrate growing momentum of its turnaround. Sales at the operator of 1,060 stores increased to $2.8 billion from $2.66 billion. The 6 percent comp increase was against a prior year comparison when comps declined 11.5 percent. Online sales through jcp.com were $249 million for the quarter, up 16.7 percent versus the same period last year. The company reported an operating loss of $70 million that, while sizable, was dramatically less than a prior year loss of $395 million. 

The days of impossibly thin models and botched Photoshop jobs may soon be behind us. Yesterday, ModCloth, an e-retailer specializing in vintage-inspired and independently created clothing and accessories, became the first retailer to sign the "Heroes Pledge For Advertisers," promising not to "change the shape, size, proportion, color and/or remove/enhance the physical features" of models in advertisements post-production. This marks an important victory for the anti-airbrushing activists behind the Truth In Advertising Act, a bipartisan bill introduced in March that calls for the government to create a regulatory framework for advertisements to ensure they aren't deceiving.